The 31st Student’s Ghost Story (1)

“No, I’m telling you, I heard a man and woman fighting! You know a student from Yeongji High recently went missing. Could it be…”
“No. From what I heard, it wasn’t fighting, it was like ‘oh ah’, those kinds of sounds! A man and a woman, just the two of them!”

The police officers who received reports from the neighbors knocked on the door.
So, there really were residents who reported it to the police.
Of course, Teacher Kang Haneul protested her innocence.

“No, I really didn’t do anything! And Youngwon is my student! Why would I do anything to a student…”

The voices continued to rise.
The image of a female teacher who brought a student home and committed violent acts flashed through my mind and disappeared.

If things stay like this, what will happen to the teacher? There will be all sorts of rumors, and she’ll get fired from school or, if she’s unlucky, even go to prison.

Teacher Kang Haneul seemed to know this well, as her face was turning more and more distressed. Her expression was more like a girl my age than an adult.

I felt a moral responsibility.
So I made up my mind and spoke.

“It was me. While the teacher was out for a bit, I drank some alcohol from the house. I think I turned the TV up loud and said some nonsense while drunk. I’m sorry, neighbors and police officers!”

*Bow*

I bowed my head and apologized to everyone.

“I’m really, really sorry! If you smell my breath, you’ll notice the alcohol smell!”

*Haaaaa*

I fired a whiskey breath at the police.

Then, a very young-looking police officer frowned.

“Ha, see this kid? There’s a strong smell of alcohol on his breath. Senior, there’s a whiskey bottle over there. Looks like he just poured it into a cup and drank it.”

“Yeah? Anyway, kids these days… Putting that aside, you said you’re a teacher, right? Why did you bring a student to your house at this late hour?”

*Slide*-.

The policeman looked at the teacher and me with narrow eyes.

“Huh? Yes? That’s…”

“It’s because of me. I’m being bullied. They call me a bastard without a dad. The teacher has evidence of that. The teacher was trying to counsel me about the bullying. Teacher, show them the note. Quickly!”

“What? Ah… the note…!”

“Bullying is occurring in Class D.”

“I wrote this note.”

The police officers looked at the note the teacher handed them and nodded as if they understood in many ways.
My lies were working well, even on the authorities.
It’s not like everything is a lie, though.

Although the auntie ghost poured alcohol into my mouth, it’s true that I drank it, and the teacher did try to counsel me about the ‘bullying’ issue.

A lie mixed with truth in the right proportions is sometimes more ambiguous than the whole truth or a complete lie.
The police, as if not wanting to make a big deal out of it on a Friday night before the weekend, concluded the case.

“You, worrying the teacher who cares about you, secretly drinking alcohol and causing trouble. You’re really doing great. But if you need help from adults outside the school for school issues, contact me here. I’m also an alumnus of Yeongji High.”

*Scribble scribble*

The police officer wrote down his cell phone number for me and left.
It was a stormy night in many ways.

“Teacher. I’m sorry for causing you trouble. Then I’ll go home now. I’m so ashamed. I’m truly sorry.”

“…It’s fine. You said you drank alcohol? Where are you going? Go to the room and get some sleep.”

Teacher Kang Haneul sat at the table and looked at me intently.
I was used to receiving such looks from Yang Juhui often, but… an adult woman’s gaze had a different power.

“…But teacher. You said rumors spread if a student sleeps in the same house as a teacher?”

“Are you afraid of such rumors that you’d send out a drunk kid at this hour? You don’t need to worry about that. How’s your stomach?”

“I feel like I’m gonna die.”

Actually, I did feel a bit dizzy.
It felt like the drunkenness that had been held back was rushing in all at once.

Is this what being drunk feels like?
It wasn’t a good feeling.
I felt like throwing up, and my mood was swirling.

Is this how adults feel?
What’s so good about this feeling that adults drink alcohol?

*Slide*

I went to the bed and lay down.
Then, Teacher Kang Haneul came and sat close to my head.

“Youngwon, you’re good at lying.”

“Lying?”

“This note wasn’t written by you, right? I saw the handwriting was different. When I looked at the poem you submitted as homework, the handwriting was different. Youngwon, your handwriting is terrible, right? Like a kindergartener.”

That was a fact.
My handwriting is pretty bad.

“The reason the teacher liked the poem you wrote was because the content and handwriting felt as pure as if a real little kid wrote it. You’re really a little kid, though.”

“I’m not a little kid.”

“No. Youngwon, you’re still a child. And adults usually know when kids are lying. Youngwon, you’re not the type to secretly drink alcohol, right? There was lipstick on the glass. Who were you with?”

“……”

I didn’t notice the lipstick on the glass.
As I kept my mouth shut, the teacher put her hand on my forehead.

*Slide*

“I know you’re lying, but most people pretend not to notice and let it go. Because they don’t want troublesome things to happen. I did that earlier, too, as a teacher. I shouldn’t have.”

The teacher’s touch felt quite cool and somewhat reassuring to me, whose face was burning from the alcohol.

“When I see you, I’m reminded of my older brother. My older brother was also bullied in high school… Suddenly doing things he didn’t do before or drinking alcohol…”

*Slide*

As I listened to Teacher Kang Haneul’s gentle voice, I couldn’t withstand the drowsiness washing over me and eventually fell asleep.

Saturday.
I sobered up and left Teacher Kang Haneul’s house.
The teacher also said she had to leave early in the morning for a “teacher’s meeting.”

“Goodbye! Haunted house!”

Remembering the bloody battle I had with the lady ghost, I hurriedly ran away from the apartment.
The weekend started with that feeling.
My weekend was ordinary, as always, with homework and games.

“The enemy team’s Nasus is too focused on farming, right? Over 500 stacks, right? Easy Platinum promotion, right?”

Well, there was nothing really special about the day.
Any ordinary high school student would spend a weekend like this.
If I had to pick something special about me, it would be this?

“Status Window.”

In the status window that felt strange yet familiar, I examined the unfamiliar part.
Level 2.
I was at level 2!

“I was so out of it then that I just glossed over it. When you level up, traits can change, right? The current traits don’t seem to have changed…”

Also, didn’t these words appear when I leveled up?

The probability of Horrors and Watchers tracking your existence increases.

What the hell does this mean?
I pondered from time to time.
I had already experienced ‘Horrors’ firsthand, so it didn’t need much explanation.

The ghosts I encountered in the Nightmare Corridor.
The lady ghost who attacked me in reality as well.
It meant that the probability of such things coming to find me would increase.

“Fuck… my life is ruined.”

Does this mean I’ll have to experience such terrifying things many times in the future?
At this rate, I’ll either die by a ghost or become a mental patient, even if I survive.

“Then, putting aside Horrors… what are Watchers?”

Watchers.
When I searched online, it literally meant “a person who watches something.”

“I don’t know what it is, but it’s definitely not good for me.”

There were many things I was curious about, but no one to answer them.
Tsk, if I had known this would happen, I should have asked the lady ghost this and that.
At least she seemed to give proper answers.

In the end, I couldn’t ask Teacher Kang Haneul anything about the old school building.

All I learned through that hardship was Teacher Kang Haneul’s underwear preferences, preference for younger men, her hysteric side, and that while being girly, she’s a good teacher.
This information might be helpful to someone, but it was meaningless to me.

“After all…”

In the end, you reach shocking secrets and strange taboos…

“There’s no choice but to go back to the corridor.”

Exploring the Nightmare Corridor in more detail…
I set that as my first target.

The reason for my status window and the answers to my many questions were surely there.

However, it’s true that I didn’t really want to go through that process.
Am I crazy to go to that ghost-filled place where I might die?

It was also chilling that Yang Juhui, who was alive in classroom 1-4, was now listed as deceased.
There’s something I still don’t know about in the corridor.

Why the hell do I have to suffer like this with a status window?
This was nothing short of a curse.

“Advice.”

Out of habit, I spent points to seek advice.

Advice from [Broken Clock]

Try unlocking ‘Bank’ from the locked items! You can convert points to cash at the bank.

Current exchange rate: 1P = ₩10,000

“Shit…!?”

1 point is 10,000 won?
My temples throbbed, my hair stood on end, my feet and back tingled, and it felt like ants were crawling all over my body.

“I’m rich now…!!!”

The status window was indeed a blessing!
Earn lots of points, escape this miserable villa, and become a landlord, too!

“Just entering the corridor earns points. Getting items earns bonus points. The flashlight Yang Juhui obtained was 100P… a million won!?”

I also liked that you get 100 points per person upon survival.
It means you get more money for surviving than going in and dying.
How can I increase my survival rate?

“…To be honest, things like the wet dream escape method wouldn’t work for anyone other than me. There must be a proper escape method in the corridor that I didn’t know then.”

The wet dream escape method was, so to speak, like a ‘bug’ that occurs in a game.
In my estimation, there must be a separate strategy or method to properly escape the “Nightmare Corridor.”

“To make more money… I need companions with whom I can survive together. Reliable companions.”

I looked at the One Piece figures on my desk.
They were mostly female characters who were skimpily dressed, but there were also male companion characters like a swordsman with a sword or a chef with flames on his legs.

Companions. Adventure.
These two things made my heart race.

A friend who will become my companion.
Is there one?
The kids in Class D are all trash.

No, if I had to pick, there might be one.
There is. Definitely! If it’s that guy!

“Who are you?”

I wanted to go to school, which I had hated so much.
I spent time just waiting for Monday to come…

“Nasus has 800 stacks, right? With this much, he can destroy our team’s Nexus, right?”

And finally, Monday came.
The classroom was chaotic in many ways.
When the kids were noisily chatting about what happened over the weekend, Kim Geonho came to me.

“Hey, Ha Youngwon. So did you do the homework I gave you? I told you to find out who wrote that note to the faculty office. Did you find out?”

“No. But I think I can find out today. I’m really curious, too.”

Bullying is occurring in Class D.

The bitch who wrote the note and caused trouble.
I don’t know who wrote this, but it can be seen as being on my side.
At least they have a minimum conscience.

*Pat*

Kim Geonho slapped the back of my head with his palm.

“Hey. Didn’t I say last time that if you can’t find out who wrote it by this week, I’ll assume you wrote it? What are you acting up for these days?”

Huh? This bastard hit me?
For a moment, my temples heated up.

Should I send this bastard Kim Geonho for another tour of the corridor?

…No, if I do that, he’ll really die.
Kim Geonho bullying me is bad, but not to the extent that it should be repaid with death.

Even if I don’t do that, I can use the Eccentricity Kim Geonho gained to make him docile right away.

*Screech*

“Hey! Yang Juhui came to school! She’s in the faculty office now! Let’s go see her! It’s crazy! Crazy!”

At the appearance of the superstar who had been the hot topic among the students on Friday and over the weekend, the kids rushed out in a group. Kim Geonho was among them.
Lucky bastard.
I thought, looking at their backs.

“Find out who wrote the note by today…”

…I’ll take care of Kim Geonho of Class D within this week!
I can do it.
The me right now can!
Because I have a definite method in mind to solve both problems at once!

Translator's Note:

If you enjoyed this translation, please consider leaving a review on Novel Updates. Your feedback and support are greatly appreciated and help me to continue providing high-quality translations.

As a token of my gratitude, for every review I receive, I will publish a bonus chapter! (1 per day.) So don't hesitate to share your thoughts and help me unlock more content for everyone to enjoy.

Thank you for your support!